After the 2020/21 season, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge left FC Bayern and handed over the chairmanship to Oliver Kahn. However, the 67-year-old continues to follow football – and now looked extremely critically at England. But Juventus and especially FC Barcelona also got their fat off.
Observes the transfer market suspiciously: the former Bayern board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
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Former Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has criticized the behavior of English clubs in the recent winter transfer window as unreasonable and “out of control”. “England spends astronomical sums in an unintelligent, irrational way,” said the 67-year-old in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport (Wednesday).
The former FCB and Inter professional (1984 to 1987) looked primarily to Chelsea, which has already spent around 600 (!) million euros on players in this Premier League season alone – over 300 this winter alone Millions of euros for professionals like Enzo Fernandez from Benfica Lisbon, Mykhaylo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk or loan player Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.
On the topic: How does it work? Questions and answers on Chelsea’s winter transfer window
Rummenigge did not fail to mention that the Londoners’ earnings so far – Chelsea are only tenth in the league, eleven points behind the Champions League ranks and in the premier class the Blues lost the first leg of the round of 16 in Dortmund 0-1 – is low . “Other countries progress between financial difficulties and scandals, but they bring home the trophies. That means the English make crazy mistakes,” he commented. “Chelsea wasted hundreds of millions of euros just to find themselves tenth in the table. It’s absurd.”
His approach to improvement: “Wealth must be better distributed. The globalization of the market has created incredible inequality.”
Rummenigge positions himself against Super League
The member of the UEFA Executive Committee (since 2021) and former chairman of the European Club Association (ECA) also used the interview with the Italian sports newspaper to once again underline his position against a Super League.
I laughed when I read that.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on the investigation against FC Barcelona
“It was no coincidence that three clubs with enormous liquidity problems came up with the idea. They are betting on generating large revenues very quickly,” explained the former German national team captain. Background: Juventus Turin (recently penalized with 15 points deduction in Serie A), FC Barcelona (open investigation into possible corruption proceedings) and Real Madrid are still sticking to the Super League project.
On the topic: Sharp tones – Real, Barça and Juve continue to believe in the Super League
Rummenigge laughed because of Barça
The 1980 European champion said a few more words about Barça, which is said to have influenced referees and which is why the public prosecutor’s office is investigating alleged corruption by private individuals: “I laughed when I read that. But I’m not surprised: I had a strange feeling every time we played in Spain. These are unacceptable things that do not only concern the national championship.” According to him, the question of refereeing must also be tackled seriously.
And the scandal surrounding the Italian record champions from Turin, including the resignations of President Andrea Agnelli and Vice Pavel Nedved, commented Rummenigge with disbelief: “I couldn’t believe what Juventus did (black money, players rated differently; Anm. d. Red.). I’ve never heard anything remotely similar in my life. Juventus are a top club in Italy and Europe – and they scored an incredible own goal here. I’m sure they’ll bounce back.”
The Club World Cup, which will be held in a new format with 32 teams from 2025 and was recently won by Real Madrid (5: 3 against Al-Hilal), sees Rummenigge as an outdated format: “It produces useless finals that make no sense.”
